Rupert Murdoch and his son James have agreed to appear before a committee of
MPs on Tuesday over News of the World phone hacking, just hours after
refusing to attend.

The father and son said earlier today that they were not available to appear before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday. They were served with a summons by MPs early this afternoon in a bid to compel them to attend.

Shortly before 5pm in a dramatic U-turn it emerged they had bowed to pressure and agreed to appear at the hearing.

Rebekah Brooks, the News International Chief Executive, had already accepted the invitation to attend.

The decision that the Murdochs will now give evidence – on the final day before the Commons breaks for the summer – was welcomed by committee chairman John Whittingdale.

"It will be the first time that Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch, and indeed, Rebekah Brooks will have answered questions about this," he told Sky News.

"They will be appearing before a parliamentary committee so I would hope they would take it seriously and they will give us the answers that not just we want to hear but I think an awful lot of people will want to hear."

Earlier, Mr Murdoch senior had said that although he was not available on Tuesday, he was "fully prepared" to give evidence to the judge-led inquiry announced by David Cameron yesterday.

"I will be taking steps to notify those conducting the inquiry of my willingness to do so," he wrote. "Having done this, I would be happy to discuss with you how best to give evidence to your committee."

Mr Murdoch junior had offered to attend the committee on August 10 or 11. He added: "Naturally if neither of these proves suitable, I would be willing to consider any alternative dates you suggest."

In a statement explaining the decision to use the summons, the MPs said: "The committee has made clear its view that all three should appear to account for the behaviour of News International and for previous statements made to the committee in Parliament, now acknowledged to be false."

In her acceptance of the invitation, Mrs Brooks warned that although she "welcomed the opportunity" to give evidence, she might refuse to answer detailed questions about allegations of phone hacking by the newspapers because it might prejudice the ongoing police investigations.

She wrote: "Given that we are in the midst of an investigation, and we do not want to prejudice it, I hope you will understand why we feel it would not be appropriate to respond to such questions at present in order to be consistent with the police's approach, and that as a result this may prevent me from discussing these matters in detail."

Kevin Maxwell, son of media mogul Robert Maxwell, was the last person to have received a summons of this kind to attend a select committee hearing, in 1992. He attended the Social Security Committee only to spend two hours refusing to answer any questions.

Earlier today, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that Rupert Murdoch must appear before MPs if he was to demonstrate “any shred of responsibility” over the crisis.